Balancing Work and Personal Life Requires Planning, Preparation, and Patience

If you have children, they are going to define much, if not most, of your life decisions from that point on, Dr. Derebery said. But I’ll tell you, there’s no better cure for writer’s block than a babysitter who’s going to be there for only three hours.

Hiring that babysitter every now and then, however, highlights another important point on which all the panelists agreed: Don’t be shy about outsourcing and delegating as much as possible, both at work and at home.

Delegation is very important, Dr. Cotton said. One of the most important things to me, especially early on, was a good business manager. I would advise you to get a very good business manager to whom you can delegate and who is going to be very loyal to you.

Dr. Derebery could not agree more strongly. Outsource all you can afford to, and I can’t emphasize that enough. Whatever you pay for nannies, babysitters or anything else is going to be much less than you will pay for a divorce settlement or psychiatric fees, she joked.

When delegating or outsourcing, however, is not an option, the only alternative may involve using a word that many physicians find difficult to utter.

You need to learn to say no sometimes. I admit that I’m not real good at that, but I’m getting better, Dr. Smith said. Of course, there are consequences to consider. If you’re going to say ‘no’ to an invitation to speak, or a paper to write, or a committee to serve on, there will be professional consequences. On the other hand, if you say ‘yes,’ there will be home consequences.

Now, the final good news.

You can have it all. You just have to accept that you might not be able to have it all at once, Dr. Derebery said. There are times when you have to stage things in your life. But life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, so don’t wait until tomorrow to start living. Enjoy it now.

©2006 The Triological Society